Bombs, Books, and Breakfast
by WhitneyFinch
Summary: Set right after The Final Warning, Max and the flock are back at their adventures. This time? England. And what is the deal with Nudge lately? No one seems to know. And it seems these days Iggy has a lot more up his sleeves than bombs. FAX & NIGGY/EGGY
1. Chapter 1

***

I glanced at the clock in the corner of the room. _Oh God, not now Nudge. Please?_

Too bad Nudge couldn't hear my thoughts. She just kept talking. "I mean, I've always wanted to model, and this is such a dream for me, but I wouldn't dream of leaving the flock, I-"

Dr. Martinez walked in the room. "Max? Who is that?"

Yes, Dr. Martinez is talking to me. The name's Max. Maximum Ride. I know, weird name. Get over it.

"This lady from some teen magazine," I replied. "She wants Angel, Nudge, and I to all model for her magazine." I looked at Dr. Martinez pleadingly. "Please don't let her do it to me, Mom. I don't want to get outvoted."

Yes, I did just call Dr. Martinez my mother. Because that's who she is. She's like the most amazing mom in the entire world. Does your mom give you a kiss and tell you "go get 'em, sweetie" before you fly away to save the world? Didn't think so. And yes, I did just say _fly away._ More on that later.

Angel was sitting with her stuffed angel, Celeste, in the corner, watching the lady talk to Nudge curiously. Angel is possibly the cutest six-year-old girl to walk the planet. When those blue eyes look at you, you just want to say yes to everything. From personal experience, don't do it.

"Okay, you guys can keep chatting, but I'm getting out of here," I said, walking over to a nearby window and looking down to the ground two stories below, where Gazzy and Iggy were doing God knows what. I turned around to look at the lady. "And just for the record, I am not wearing any skirts or heels, and I am not walking down any stupid runway." I turned, opened the window, and jumped out before I could see Nudge's disappointed face.

As soon as I was out of the window, I shot my wings out, supporting me easily. Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, Fang, Angel and I are not just normal kids. Nudge prefers to call us Avian American, but I just prefer to call us bird kids. The six of us (aka, the flock) grew up in a lab, (commonly referred to as the School) and had our DNA mixed together with DNA from birds. If you think that's weird, close this book now. It's only going to get weirder.

I landed on the ground below. Iggy looked up.

"How was the meeting?" he asked, looking at where my nose was. For a blind kid he was pretty good, but not that good.

I groaned and sat down between them. "Nudge is still talking her face off to the lady. I left."

Gazzy snickered. "Obviously."

I rolled my eyes, and looked down at the grass. Iggy and Gazzy were playing cards. "Who taught you guys how to play cards?"

"Ella," Iggy said casually. Gazzy and I looked at each other, amused. Iggy had a crush on Ella, my half sister and Dr. Martinez's daughter. We tried not to rub it in too much.

"What game is it?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Go Fish," Gazzy announced. "Iggy, got any eights?"

I blinked in surprise. "Isn't that the card game preschoolers play all the time?"

"Yup." Iggy handed Gazzy two eights, and looked at me. "Why?"

I snorted. "You guys seem a little old for that."

"Old for what?" Fang asked as he walked out from the shadows under a tree. I swear, sometimes he seems like more of a bat than a bird.

"We're playing go fish, Fang," Gazzy said. "Want to play with us?"

"Uh, no thanks," he said, flashing a half smile. My heart did a little turn. Jeez. Life would be easier if he never smiled.

Mom came out of the building with Nudge and Angel. "Hey guys," she said, smiling brightly. "I was thinking."

Gazzy looked at her cautiously. "About what?"

"You know, since this is your last day here for a while, we should do something fun."

"Fun like what?" Nudge asked curiously. "Cuz you know, going ice skating would be-"

Gazzy clamped a hand over her mouth. Mom looked amused, then continued. "I was thinking we could go out for dinner or something. We could all dress up and go to a fancy restaurant." She looked at me, her eyes sparkling. "It wouldn't hurt you to wear a dress for once."

Everyone turned to look at me. _Why not, it might do you some good to girlify you for once._

_Well hello, Voice. Nice to hear from you again. _Yes, I do have a voice inside my head. One other than my thoughts. No, I'm not crazy.

I sighed. "What the heck, why not. Never again, though," I added as Nudge's face lit up.

***

_Remind me why I let you talk me into this?_ I asked the Voice as Nudge left the room to get her makeup. She insisted on giving me a little makeover, "just for tonight". Yippee.

_It would do you some good to do something just for fun. You haven't done that in a while._

_And you call this fun? _I sighed. Nudge came back into the room. "Here, only a few more things and you're finished," she said brightly.

After smothering me with lip-gloss and eyeliner, she was finally finished.

"Ooh Max," she gasped. "You look fabulous!"

I rolled my eyes and looked in the mirror. My eyes widened in shock. Thanks to Nudge, I looked like a beauty queen. I felt a blush begin to deepen on my cheeks, and I turned back to face her.

"No. I-I can't go out looking like this."

Nudge looked a little offended. "Why not?" she said defensively. "You look hot!"

"I-I'm sorry. I just can't." since when do I say sorry? Feeling a little vulnerable, I turned away and began wiping a little of the blush off my cheeks. I turned back to see Nudge's eyes filling with tears. I was shocked. The flock hardly ever cries. Especially not about silly things like makeup. But she looked distressed and upset.

I softened. I can't help it, I'm the motherly type. "Okay, I guess I can wear it. But just this once." She immediately brightened.

When I walked down the stairs, everyone getting their stuff together immediately stopped. Nudge was wearing a yellow dress that made her look gorgeous, and I shyly (yes, I felt like a total idiot) walked down the stairs in a blue top with a matching skirt. That was the most my mom could convince me to wear.

Angel stared. "Max you look beautiful," she said in awe. Angel was adorable, of course, in a pink dress with a matching bow in her hair.

I smiled, and my gaze met with Ella on the other side of the room. I didn't dare look at Fang.

Ella paused, and then rubbed her hands together. "Alright, let's get this party started!" she announced.

Everyone got together and loaded into the car. I grabbed my coat and turned around to see Fang right in front of me. Everyone else was in the car. _Oh jeez._

"You look great," he said.

I fought to keep my jaw from dropping. _Mr. Tight Mouth? Complimenting me?_

"Uh, thanks," I said, and turned and walked to the door as quickly as I could, but he grabbed my elbow. I slowly turned around.

_God, does he look good,_ I thought. His khaki pants and white shirt with the blue tie looked great with his dark hair. He came closer, and suddenly I smelled something. Axe? _Oh God. Max, do NOT laugh. Not now, _I told myself. But it was too late. The words already came out of my mouth.

"Are you wearing _axe?_"

Fang shrugged. "Maybe. So what?"

The laughter came out, ringing like bells. I couldn't help it. It was funny. But I suddenly saw the insecurity in his eyes, and I stopped. Even self-confident Fang can't be confident about everything.

"It smells great," I joked. He smirked, and we turned and went out the door.

***


	2. Chapter 2

***

I hate car rides with the flock. Nudge spends the whole time talking to Ella, Angel keeps yelling, "turn the music up!" to tune Nudge out until the radio is practically blowing out our eardrums. Not to mention Iggy and Gazzy, sitting in the backseat pushing each other around. And especially the wonderful farts that Gazzy provides during the car ride. Yes, rides with the flock are VERY enjoyable. (I'm using sarcasm, obviously.) To top it all off, I was stuck in the back seat with Gazzy and Iggy while Fang got to sit in front with Mom. Sometimes the world just isn't fair.

When we got to the restaurant, we stumbled out of the car, gasping for fresh air and accustoming ourselves to the quiet early evening. Nudge looked up at the sign and gasped in delight.

"Olive Garden!" she exclaimed, delighted. I exchanged an amused look with Fang. Nudge loves all food, but she has an addiction to Italian food. Especially Olive Garden.

We went inside and walked to the counter. A young guy was standing behind the counter and looked at us.

"Excuse me, Ma'am. How many are with you?"

Mom smiled. "A table for nine, please."

The man's eyes widened. "_Nine?_ I'm afraid we don't have a table that large. Are all these kids your children?" he looked at each one of us.

I was starting to get a little paranoid. Not only do I dislike buildings crowded with people, I also don't enjoy getting interrogated. "Uh, Mom, why don't we try and find somewhere else to eat?" I said quietly.

Too late. Mom was on a roll. "They are. Do you have a problem?" she asked quietly. That's when a _smart_ person would recognize her dangerous tone and back away, but not this guy. Apparently he was a couple French fries short of a Happy Meal. He kept going.

"Well we don't have any tables large enough for them, Ma'am. I'm sorry, but-"

"We will _make_ room, Mister." Mom walked right past him and we all followed.

Mom found 2 nice tables in the back that we could put together, and we sat down. Angel looked at Fang, who rolled his eyes before sitting down next to me. I smirked to myself as I imagined in my brain what Angel might be thinking to him.

Angel can read minds. It's kind of scary to know everything that I think can be sent right to a six year old brain. I glanced at her and she smiled innocently. I noticed that Iggy sat down next to Ella, but I said nothing.

The waitress came only a few minutes later. Her smile looked like it was plastered on with super glue.

"What can I get y'all?" she asked, overly friendly. I fought the urge to gag.

Gazzy, his spiked hair glinting in the sunset, looked up. "Can I have two bowls of spaghetti with alfredo sauce?"

The waitress looked at him. "Um, isn't that a lot of food for you, sweetheart?"

Gazzy smiled. "No Ma'am."

The woman shrugged and jotted it down in her notebook, and looked up at Iggy. "How about you, sir?"

Nudge elbowed Iggy, and he realized the waitress was talking to him. "Um, do you have any ribs?" he asked.

"They're not on the menu, are they?" she asked sarcastically. _He's blind, you moron,_ I thought.

"Um, okay." Iggy took it in stride. "Can I have 4 bowls of shrimp?"

The waitress stared at him. "Is this a joke?"

Fang cleared his throat. "Um, no. We're just hungry."

This was not going well. The waitress looked at him. "Does your mom feed you, sugar?"

_Ew._ "Uh yeah, she does," I spoke up. "We just eat a lot of food."

As I spoke, the garlic buns the waitress had set down on the table were quickly disappearing. The waitress looked down at the bun basket, and then back at me.

"Um, I don't think we have enough of these items," the waitress spoke slowly. "Why don't you go somewhere else?"

Just as she spoke, Gazzy let one rip, and the air was filled with fumes.

"Oh God," the waitress said, and fainted.

Dinner was going just beautifully.

Mom looked flustered. "Uh, come on kids, let's go find somewhere else to eat," she said as the people next to us began to gag.

"Yeah, like an all-you-can-eat buffet," Iggy said, and Gazzy punched him in the arm and snickered.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, so Golden Corral isn't that bad, but I was still ticked off about the whole "Olive Garden gone wrong" scenario. Actually, anything tastes good when you're used to going without food for days. The boys practically inhaled their food before getting seconds, but instead of eating as quickly as I usually do I sat with Nudge, Ella, and Mom and actually talked. Well, more like listened.

"So, are you guys all packed and ready to leave tomorrow?" Mom asked. I suddenly remembered, and my stomach dropped.

Mom was sending us off to England tomorrow to go to a boarding school, including Ella. I was not thrilled, but Mom thought it would be good for us. Today was our last night here.

"Yeah, I'm nervous, but I think it'll be great," Ella said, bouncing in her seat a little.

I didn't think it would be great. Or fun. Or any of the above. _Let's hear it for pessimism!_

Nudge smiled. "I think it's going to be awesome! New friends, no weird droid things, plenty of boys-" she broke off, and Ella giggled.

_Boys? Since when does Nudge care about boys? Isn't she like twelve?_

_Nudge is eleven,_ the Voice said.

_Great. Eleven. Even better._ Although the Voice never shows emotion, I swear it would've been rolling its eyes.

Mom smiled. "Don't get too carried away, though. School is still important."

"Yeah, whatever," Ella said. "This is going to be awesome! We even get to fly there in a private jet! I've never been in a private jet!" Ella was starting to sound like Nudge.

"Don't say 'whatever' to me," Mom said. "School is really important. Do you think I could've become a vet without caring about school?"

I smiled to myself. _Typical mothers._ It wasn't often that something in my life was typical for most of the world, and it felt good.

The boys came back, loaded with food. I picked my plate up and went back to the buffet. I heard the restaurant door open, and I glanced over to see Brigid, Akila and Total walk in. _And the day just got better,_ I thought sarcastically.

"Hey Total," I said as I scooped some corn onto my plate. "Did you enjoy your day?"

Total was our dog. He had spent the day with Akila, another dog, and her owner Brigid (who I extremely disliked).

"It was nifty. Can you get me some salami?" Total said. Akila barked, and Brigid smiled as she made a beeline to Fang, who was sitting at our table.

Total is a talking dog. He was experimented on at the School just like us, and now has the ability to talk. As if having a pet couldn't get more annoying.

"Nifty?" I asked, a fork halfway to pick up a piece of salami.

"Yeah. It's my new favorite word," he said. He ran over to the table and jumped into Angel's lap, his short black tail whipping back and forth happily.

I brought over four pieces of salami and a cup of milk to the table for Total, and he ate happily. I walked over to my seat where Brigid had sat down.

"Um, that was my seat," I said.

"Oh. Sorry," Brigid said. She jumped up, and I sat down. She walked over to the other side of the room, grabbed a spare chair from another table and brought it back to push in between my chair and Fang's. I was ticked off, but I said nothing.

"So Fang, how's the blog going?" Brigid asked as she took a bite of a muffin.

"Uh, great. I have a lot of viewers," Fang said. _No duh, Sherlock._

Brigid smiled. "That's great! So I heard you guys are leaving for England tomorrow, that'll be fun. I'll miss you."

_Oh please. _ Brigid was making me sick to my stomach. I pushed the rest of my food away.

"Yeah. It'll be nice to have a change of scenery." _Scenery? Fang? Suuure._ Then I remembered Fang's good poetry, and I bit my lip.

"I'll bet." Brigid smiled, and Fang smiled back, lighting up the room. _Brigid does NOT deserve one of those smiles._ Brigid stood up.

"Well, I'd better be going. Come on, Akila."

After they left, I silently heaved a sigh of relief. Fang shot a glance at me, and I looked away quickly before picking up my plate.

"Who wants more food?"


	4. Chapter 4

***

I was sitting dejectedly on my bed when Ella came in.

"Not ready to leave tomorrow?" Ella asked, smiling.

I grabbed a pillow and threw it against the wall. "No, not really." I sighed. "Are you?"

She smiled. "I'm nervous, and a little scared about leaving Mom, but I'm thrilled."

I smiled back. "I'm just scared about leaving her here by herself."

Ella frowned a little. "You don't think something bad will happen to her, do you?"

I backtracked quickly. "Oh no, not at all." I didn't want to scare Ella. I mean, she's only thirteen; she doesn't deserve to be overwhelmed by all the things in my life. "She might get lonely though."

Ella shrugged. "Well it was her idea for us to go to begin with."

I nodded, and then looked up at the clock that read 9PM. I sighed and lightly pushed her off the bed.

"I'm going to sleep. Goodnight, Ella."

Ella smiled. "'Night Max." Ella walked over to her bed, and climbed into it.

I pulled my covers over my head. The air almost seemed to be so quiet it was loud. It was weird.

***

Who knows how much later, I finally rolled over, climbed out of bed and went downstairs to the kitchen. It was totally silent, and I walked over to the kitchen counter and microwaved some coffee from earlier in the evening. I glanced over at the microwave clock as I stirred. It read 2AM. I sighed before walking around to the plush blue couch. I sat down pretzel style and turned on the TV.

_"Second annual Salmon Derby scheduled for-"_

I sighed and flipped the channel.

"_Rose, you're no picnic, all right? You're a spoiled little brat, even. But under that, you're the most amazingly, astounding, wonderful girl - woman - that I've ever known ... "_

"_Jack, __I ... "_

"_No, let me try to get this out. I'm not an idiot; I know how the world works. I've got ten bucks in my pocket, I have nothing to offer you, and I know that. I understand. But I'm too involved now. You jump, I jump, remember? I can't turn away without knowing you'll be all right ... That's all I want."_

I sighed. No guy would ever say that to me. Just another ridiculous romance movie. I mean, seriously, did I even want that? I'm not mushy and ridiculous like most girls. But yet…. another part of me, the _girl_ part of me, yearned for something like that.

I couldn't shake the feeling. I flipped the channel.

Flip.

Flip.

Flip.

Okay, there is seriously _nothing_ good on this freaking TV.

I heard footsteps, and I looked up to see Fang in the doorway. Oh God. Not now when I'm feeling all mushy. _Please, go away._ Sadly, he can't always read my thoughts either.

"What are you doing up?"

I sighed. "Can't fall asleep."

He nodded, and sat on the couch next to me, our legs touching. There was nothing really awkward about the silence – I mean, with him hardly talking, I can't keep up the conversation all the time.

He looked over at me. "Are you ready to leave?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, sure, it might be nice to go on an adventure again, but I don't know if I want to leave everything and start over."

Fang nodded. "There's something else on your mind."

_Dangit. _He would be the last person on the planet I'd want to talk to about romance. "No, not really."

"Yeah there is."

"No."

"Yes."

"_No._"

Pause.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"_God, _Fang! There is nothing on my mind besides England! I'm going to bed." I got up with my coffee and stomped off to bed. I could hear him sigh, and he turned out the light in the living room, leaving the house pitch dark.

He always did prefer darkness.

***


End file.
